UNITAR Executive Director, Mr. Carlos Lopes was recently appointed the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA.

UNOSAT released in March 2012 the latest version of its annual thematic brief, which is dedicated to “Satellite Applications for Human Security”.  Each year, UNOSAT publishes a brief focusing on one of its strategic areas of work (humanitarian relief, human security, strategic territorial planning).  Last year the UNOSAT Brief concentrated on Humanitarian Rapid Mapping, the service launched in 2003 that made UNOSAT known worldwide for its rapid mapping support to the international humanitarian community.

10 April 2012, Montevideo, Uruguay – The Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay (LATU) and the Basel Convention Coordinating Center-Stockholm Convention Regional Center for the Latin America and Caribbean in early 2012, signed a joint agreement to promote training and capacity building for the development of a nano-safety pilot project in Uruguay, financially supported by the Government of Switzerland.

8 March 2012- Johannesburg, South Africa: During the National Occupational Health and Safety Conference at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, South Africa from 6 to 9 March 2012, a one-day seminar on the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was held. The seminar was organized by the Department of Labour of South Africa in association with UNITAR/ILO.

3 April 2012, Seoul, South Korea – Assistant Secretary-General and UNITAR Executive Director, Carlos Lopes visited top officials of the Republic of Korea this week to pledge UNITAR’s support for building capacities of all countries in the area of Green Growth, thereby reinforcing Korea’s leading efforts in this field.

5 April 2012, Jeju, South Korea – UNITAR’s Centre for Training Local Authorites (CIFAL Jeju) in South Korea completed on Friday March 30, its second workshop in the field of human trafficking, titled “Enhancing Human Security: Developing Capacities to Protect and Assist Victims of Human Trafficking”.

5 April 2012, Geneva, Switzerland - Investment arbitration is possibly the fastest-developing area of international law.  Due to the widespread geographical participation of States in investment treaties and the increased use of arbitration to settle disputes involving significant amounts of money, understanding the particularities and dynamics of investment law and arbitration is becoming increasingly important.

23 March 2012 - On Friday, UNITAR Executive Director Mr. Carlos Lopes was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to be the next Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

UNITAR has made available through its institutional website summaries of six e-discussions in English and in French on regional integration and trade in Sub-Saharan Africa organized jointly by United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa (UNDP RBA) and UNITAR from October to December 2011, as well as a case study on negotiation of financial transactions.

22 March, 2012 - A Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) headquarters in Geneva between UNITAR and UNOPS – the United Nations Office for Project Services, marking the beginning of an exciting partnership. The memorandum was signed by Mr.